Pixelized, reconfigurable antennas are of interest for many applications. Phased array systems, for example, form one class of such antenna systems, but much simpler antennas are also of interest. Phased array systems are often active antennas, that is, they incorporate active elements such as electrically tunable elements. However, control of such active elements conventionally involves a high degree of complexity.
Pixelized antennas using interconnection switches rely on the availability of switches with appropriate characteristics. For low-cost, light-weight, and thin antennas, and particularly for antenna designs requiring many elements, this requires a large number of small and cheap RF switches. Although there has been some success in using microelectromechanical system (MEMS) approaches to fabricate small RF switches, the switches demonstrated thus far are expensive and often have relatively poor RF and/or reliability characteristics. Reconfigurable antenna systems are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,473,037 to Vail et al., 6,469,677 to Schaffner et al., 6,307,519 to Livingston et al., 6,198,438 to Herd et al., and 5,293,172 to Lamberty et al. However, there remains a need for improved reconfigurable antenna arrays and particularly a need for improvements in their switching mechanisms. These are the needs addressed by the present invention that provides efficient and low-cost control of a large number of tunable elements in such antenna array systems, as well as other applications.
All U.S. patents referred to in this specification are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.